Rodgers has drawn criticism for the way he comports himself before, but for the second time in a month it has come from one of his former wide receivers.

This time, retired receiver Donald Driver, appearing on a national radio program and responding to comments former Packer receiver Greg Jennings made recently, called into question Rodgers’ willingness to deflect blame.

“We’ve always been in the room and we’ve always said that the quarterback is the one who needs to take the pressure off of everyone else,” Driver said on ESPN radio’s Mike and Mike. “If a guy runs the wrong route, it’s easy for the quarterback to say, ‘Hey, I told him to run that route,’ than the guy to say, ‘Hey, I ran the wrong route.’

“Sometimes you ask Aaron to take the pressure off those guys so we don’t look bad. He didn’t want to do that. He felt like if you did something bad, you do it. That’s the difference. You want that leadership. I think sometimes you may not feel like you got it. You have to earn that respect at the end of the day.”

Jennings said in a July interview that Rodgers was someone who created the spotlight for himself, thus making it seem like the Packers were “so-and-so and the team.” He said it was hard for Rodgers to hold himself accountable for things he did wrong as a result of his status.

Driver said he considered Rodgers “a nice guy” and “I think that’s what you have to respect.” But he also said it was important for Rodgers to remain humble and remember that he wasn’t always a star.

“I saw when he first got drafted, he came in with a chip on his shoulder, saying that he should have been the first pick in that draft, that it shouldn’t have been Alex Smith,” Driver said. “But that’s the way the guy is and I think the thing is, I’ve always told Aaron this: ‘Don’t forget where you come from because the people are the ones who put you on that pedestal. You didn’t put yourself there.’

“And I think that’s what he’s learning now.”

McCarthy said he did not know where Driver was coming from and made reference to the loss Driver recently experienced with the death of his father. He said in total he wasn’t sure what Driver was trying to say.

“I didn’t get to read the whole thing,” he said. “I didn’t understand it, and frankly, I think Aaron manages his job responsibility very well. Accountability is throughout your whole football team. The quarterback position, we take a lot of pride in the way it’s coached.

“That’s the most overly criticized position on our whole team internally. I don’t know what to really say about his comments.”

Harris is a no-go

Running back DuJuan Harris is ready to play against the St. Louis Rams Saturday night, but McCarthy is taking the safe route with his expected starter.

McCarthy held Harris out of most of the drills in the team’s helmets-only practice Thursday at Ray Nitschke Field as part of his “limited” status this week and said afterward he plans to sit him against the Rams.

Harris is coming off a knee injury that sidelined him for 11 practices and the first exhibition game.

“I kept him in limited reps so he will not go in St. Louis,” McCarthy said. “I had a chance to speak with him this morning. He’s ready, but we just want to bring him back in limited fashion this week and he’ll be 100 percent to go next week.”

Another of McCarthy’s backs, rookie Eddie Lacy, appears ready to make his NFL debut.

Lacy missed three practices and the Arizona game with a hamstring pull, but his workload gradually increased this week to the point where he was able to take part in a fair number of competitive team drills Wednesday and Thursday. Lacy has also been limited this week, but he has done more than Harris and had a huge number of snaps before being injured.

“I hope so,” McCarthy said when asked if Lacy would play. “He practiced today. We’ll have a chance to look at the film and let all those guys that were in limited practice reps during the course of the week — their evaluation in the morning will determine it — but I’m hopeful that he’ll play.”

Rotation set

Typically, the No. 1 offense has played the entire first quarter and sometimes into the second in the second preseason game, and McCarthy said he didn’t expect anything to be different this year.

However, he has also stated that he wants to see quarterback Vince Young more in game situations so he can get a better evaluation of him. Asked if he was considering giving Young some snaps with the No. 1 offense, McCarthy said no.

“Not this week,” he said. “I don’t think that’s possible. Aaron will play the number of snaps that will be determined. Our rotation will probably be similar to what it was last week.”

Against Arizona, Rodgers played first, Graham Harrell second, Young third and B.J. Coleman last. McCarthy said he hoped to get all four into the game.

Step by step

The rookie running back who will probably get the most work is fourth-round pick Johnathan Franklin.

One thing the coaches want to see from him is better discipline in following the path of the called run and a better job of setting up blocks. At UCLA, Franklin had more leeway to dance around and try to find a hole.

The Packers don’t want that.

“We just need to clean up our run game, our footwork with Johnathan,” running backs coach Alex Van Pelt said. “I don’t know how much outside zone he ran in college, but he needs to be more consistent with where we need to be. It all works in unison with the offensive line.

“At times if we come off our track either too wide or too tight, it puts those guys (the linemen) in a bad position to set up their blocks. So it’s critical to stay on track whether it’s inside zone or outside zone. All the footwork has to be in tune with the line’s blocking scheme. I think he’ll continue to improve on that.”

Instrument of interception

It wasn’t until he picked off a pass in the end zone that safety Chris Banjo started to get inquiries into how his name is pronounced and what is the origin of it.

That’s what happens when you do something good on the field.

Banjo has started to show up during Packers camp and his well-anticipated play on a Young throw into the end zone was definitely the highlight for the first-year player from SMU.

It got him mentioned by McCarthy and earned him an impromptu press conference at his locker.

“Let’s be honest,” McCarthy said after discussing the race between M.D. Jennings and Jerron McMillian for a starting safety position, “Banjo comes in here and I love the way he played. He was one of the guys we recognized in our team meeting (this week).”

The 5-10, 207-pound Banjo is the kind of guy it’s hard not to pull for.

Last year, he was invited to Pittsburgh and Oakland rookie camps on a tryout basis but was not signed by either team and spent the entire 2012 season trying to stay in shape and attending various regional scouting combines.

Jacksonville signed him a week before the ’13 draft and he took part in off-season workouts there. But less than a week before camp started, he was released. The Packers signed him three days later, on July 28.

“He did some good things the other night,” safeties coach Darren Perry said. “Productive, instinctive, can run. People see his stature and they don’t see a big guy, but I think he’s plenty physical. So we’ll see what happens.”

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